Can Breast Implants Cause/Hide Cancer?


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There is a very uncommon form of blood cancer known as anaplastic large cell lymphoma, which you should be aware of if you are planning on undergoing breast implant surgery. The reason behind this is because at the beginning of 2011, the FDA issued a statement that revealed that there is a strong probability that there is an associated between breast cancer and ALCL.

ALCL is a very rare cancer that is seen to develop within the breast. As far as we know, the cancer currently only affects three out of every 100 million women on a global basis. Despite the infrequent nature of ALCL occurrence, it is a very serious disease and so you should be informed about it, especially if you want to get breast implants.

In regards specifically to women with breast implants, there have only been sixty known cases of the rare ALCL out of the millions of women who have undergone the procedure. In addition to this, the FDA recorded that the cancer appeared to form somewhere between the 1st and 23rd year after the implant has been obtained.

Even though a relationship between ALCL and breast implants has been made, the FDA declare that those women who currently have breast implant should not subject themselves to further surgery to get the implants taken out. This is most probably a sign that the risks associated with breast implant removal surgery are more likely to occur than the ALCL is. Not only this but the FDA also express that the vast majority of those women with breast implants are not needed to undergo any medical assessment unless they have been experiencing any abnormal symptoms, especially pain.

The researchers that worked on this study for the FDA believe that the ALCL occurs as a result of the silicone casing that holds in the saline or silicone filling of all breast implants. They seem to think that this casing is triggering cells in the breast to become mutated and develop ALCL on the odd occasion. Despite this potentiality, there is still no definitive understanding to explain why this is happening and so further, more extensive research will be required in the future.

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